Gatineau, Quebec – SPORTS – The Eastern Canadian Championships kicked off in Gatineau, Quebec on Friday, January 30, 2015. The first race of the three-day series was a free-style sprint race.
Thunder Bay produced strong results putting many skiers on the podium. Rookie and junior skier, Sadie White of Thunder Bay, climbed onto the podium for the first time this season to claim her first bronze medal. As a late addition to the team White has been continuing to improve and has finally hit her stride.
Veteran teammate Alannah MacLean also climbed onto the podium for the first time this year in the Senior Women’s category to claim her first bronze medal of the season.
Jenn Jackson fought her way to the A-final with MacLean and finished sixth. This is Jackson’s first race in over 6 weeks after suffering a fractured bone in her leg early December. Junior Male, David Askwith has continued to show his strength finishing seventh and easily winning the B-Final. Thunder Bay’s Angus Foster took silver the Junior Men category.
The top-ten of the Senior Men’s group was stormed by NDC Thunder Bay. Andy Shields took silver in the race. Bob Thompson, Evan Palmer-Charrette and Ben Wilkinson-Zan were the first three to cross the line in the B-Final putting them in seventh, eighth and ninth respectively. NDC Thunder Bay alumni Michael Somppi is finally showing what he is made of, once again taking top spot of the day to claim another gold medal beside his former teammates.
NDC Thunder Bay will look to continue with this positive momentum into the weekend.
